Christmastime remembered

Its St. Valentines day so of course the happy little elves at wally world are busy setting up the Easter candy displays, and right on cue, I'm posting about Christmas! We were very fortunate to be able to take a trip to SLC the weekend after Christmas with my family and my step brothers and their families (we missed you Brian and Val!) and see the Christmas lights at temple square and enjoy the wonderful spirit of the season. An especially fun part of the trip was taking the kids to the Church History Museum. I really love museums of any kind, but this one has some pretty cool exhibits that truly help you appreciate what the founders of my faith went through. I wanted to post some pictures and try and share with you the feelings I had. Hope you enjoy.

A view of the Christus in the north visitors center, He is the reason for the season

Joseph, Mary, and the Christ child


The Assembly Hall (for some reason I really like this building)



Joseph and Oliver receiving the Aaronic Priesthood


Mom and Lynner (thanks guys!)

Almost the whole group (do you think it was cold?)

This is my shot (not the first time this view has been taken but I like it)

Rexy enjoying the comforts of a ship at sea (this was cool because I served in Liverpool, England on my mission were tens of thousands of Saints left Europe for America on these ships)

Katie Grace checking out some dress up clothes

The Two Amigos

TROUBLE unleashed, and of course climbing on things!

My beautiful wife (moments before yelling at me to GET OFF THE FLOOR!)

A portion of a letter from the Prophet Joseph Smith (The Spirit at this and the Book of Mormon section was so strong. It really amazed me to see his actual handwriting)

The pistols Joseph and Hyrum used to defend themselves and John Taylor's watch and staff (The letter was hand written by Willard Richards and the books is the Doctrine and Covenants)

Death mask of Hyrum Smith

Death mask of the Prophet Joseph Smith

Standing there looking at Joseph and Hyrum's face I really felt the Spirit. It was comforting to me to know that finally they were at peace. It was truly an honor to be there. Seeing the death masks again. Seeing Joseph's actual writings. Seeing an actual page from the original translation of the Book of Mormon. These things just made the Gospel feel so much more real. It gave me such a great appreciation of the lives of the early Saints. It was much like our visit to Martin's Cove, where the spirit of sacrifice exhibited by the early Saints to make it possible for me to worship and follow the Gospel without persecution and trial truly humbled me. This trip to SLC at Christmastime was a great blessing. I'm so glad our family was able to go, and I hope that you feel a little of how I felt when you see these pictures. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.

Catching up...

Wow, I just realized its been since September that I last posted on this poor neglected blog. I'm glad they didn't shut it down! I thought about closing down my Facebook account the other day because it killed my blogging and it can be a monumental time waster (coincidentally this thought occurred about the same time FB changed its layout unannounced for the 400th time but I digress). I didn't pull the plug on the FB yet because it has helped me to reconnect to some degree to friends and family who I don't communicate with any other way. It certainly puts me in a quandary because, no offense intended, although I do love seeing what people are up to; I really could not care less about someones lost trouser trout in aquiriumfarmmafiaville (full disclosure, I did post my all time highest Bejeweled score, but it was 300k + who wouldn't?). I know that FB is trying to pull in the almighty dollar, which is their right and I don't blame them, but it as my right as a consumer to pull they plug when I can no longer see what friends current updates are without hunting them down like a cold case file killer. I hate to re-enter the blogosphere with a complaint post, but hey it was on my mind. I hope this post finds all you faithful readers (hahaha) well, KG

Annoying Yet Enjoyable

I know from the title you think I must be writing a post about me, well you are right, though it hurts me deeply that you find me annoying!

You know those songs that you hear the first time and think "wow, that song sucks!" and then three days later you are humming it. Then a week later you are thinking I have to get on iTunes and buy that bad boy (because like all responsible people I whole heartedly frown on evil "file sharing" sites like those mentioned in Weird Al's "don't download this song").

Well the latest of these that has claimed me as its victim is that Black Eyed Peas song about how freaking good tonight is going to be. Its going to be a good good night, and I'll be spending up my money!

Others have included that sweetheart MIley "My dad is a big attention whore, but not as bad as Spencer Pratt" Cyrus: I've got my sights set on you... the last time fr fr fr freaked out. So wonderfully Go-Go esque (well not quite but still...)

Nickleback's Rockstar, did you know that my favorite back up vampire slayer is in that video? NO really check it on Wikipedia! I hated this song the first 300 times I heard it. The I bought the video and now its in my top 25. How pathetic...

To the left, to the left: Don't forget about Beyonce. I can't stand her but (t) (hee, hee), that song is irreplacebly on my top 25.

I may be drunk but Brad Paisley's Alcohol is another. I love Brad Paisley, but this song really bugged me at first. Now it is on every playlist on my iPod. Even the one labled "church songs".

So these are just a few, I'd love to hear about yours, oh and if Eliza gets her way I'll be adding another Miley song "Party In The USA (a Jay Z song was on, a Jay Z song was on)" very soon! Let me know about yours!

Yellowstones and colored waters

It isn't often that I go to Yellowstone and take a lot of pictures of the thermal features, as the maps like to call them, I did like these views so I'm posting them for you. This first shot of the flowers I liked just because there was really no other greenery around and then here is a little clump of flowers popping up in the midst of all the stark and alien landscape that surrounds geysers.

I hope you enjoy.

Sophie

Sophie Lee pulled herself along the wall shrinking up into the shadows as much as she possibly could. In a place like this one would think the shadows would be the worst place to be but Sophie felt some comfort there in the darkness. Her progress was slow as she tried to make no sound and she didn’t want her breathing to give her away. She didn’t know why her leg was numb, she didn’t know what had happened to Matthew, she didn’t know why she could not remember the last three days, in short like her step father often told her “I could write a book on things you don’t know.”

She finally pulled herself into a corner next to the hallway. She reached down and grabbed her left leg which felt like a 30 pound sausage dangling from her hip. Sophie pulled both legs up to her chest and dropped her head between her legs making herself as small as she could. She had heard somewhere that putting your head between her your knees could help prevent hyperventilation, at this point she was hoping not to pass out. She did not now much about what was happening, enough to fill a book. But she did know that just around the corner and into the light was death: terrifying, excruciating, certain death.

Long long ago

Sometimes things that happened oh song long ago linger. No I'm not talking about Herpes. I'm talking about life experiences. Good things linger, I can still remember getting whisker burns from my Grandpa Grover as a little kid which I acted like I hated but secretly loved. Little accomplishments like taking second place in a pine wood derby, learning to ride a bike, getting my first job. These things seem to hide in little pockets of my memory and pop out at different times and bring a smile to my face. The happy little pop up memories are great.

Then there are the other lingerers. This kind are like the guys who sit out on corners drinking from anonymous bottles shrouded in little brown paper bags. There really aren't good times for these lingerers to pop up. Its like when you think you have finally shaken strep throat only to find out that you need to have an entire new anti biotic for another round. It always turns out to be a crappy situation.

I have really come to dislike these negative lingering memories/experiences. In a way they become an albatross and I feel like the ancient mariner. And like a old set of luggage you carry them around for ever. A lot of people, myself included, may not even realize that you have these negative little stowaways out there in your psyche. They can way you down, ruin your day, cause you to start crying for no obvious reason and lead you to believe that you are loosing it. And in some ways you could be.

It is hard for me to even write about it. I really don't like to be whiny. I don't like rehashing bad times. I don't want to glorify old mistakes by reanimating them in my mind and living through them over and over again. These things are like Jason and Michael and Freddy all mixed together, they just keep coming back. Often the issue is something I had no control over when it happened, but now, when it pops up and I do have some measure of control (or should) I let it take over my whole thought process. This can ruin an entire day just by bumming me out. There is a lesson here to be sure. Try not to create any of these lingerers for others. Especially for kids, you never really know how long harsh words, broken promises, or shattered dreams will stay with a person.

Then there are those lingerers who I, in a sense, invited over and just won't leave. The mistakes made in life big or small that try as you will to move on from and forget won't go away. My sainted mother once told me of an object lesson she had in seminary where the teacher illustrated the lasting effects of sin by hammering nails into a 2 x 4. When through repentance the nails are taken out, the hole created by driving the nails into the board still remain. In my life I have made stupid decisions, I have not given my best effort, or have chickened out of doing things that could have turned out well. These are things I still regret. I sometimes feel like Seth in Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary when he states that his past mistakes keep limiting his future opportunities. I still think if only I would have paid more attention in school, if only I would have been more kind to this person, if only I had chosen to be more Christlike at that point of my life. I think the name of half of the malingerers is "if only".

There is wisdom in the saying "live your life so you have no regrets." I don't know if this is truly possible, but I would challenge you to try. Control the things that you can, and don't let yourself be controlled by those things outside of your control. Good luck, and watch out for stowaways.

Matthew Good "Weapon"

Thought I would pry myself away from Facebook for a minute to drop a great tune on you in case you haven't heard it. Matthew Good is a great (wow that was a crappy play on words) artist, love this song!



Enjoy!